27/02/2017 Super League Show

Hello, it's only Round 2 of Super League so we're

a long way off prize time, but we've had the BAFTAs,

the Brits and the Oscars, so these are the Rugby league

COMMENTATOR: What a tackle that was from Tommy Makinson!

Great by Greg Bird, and Catalan move in front.

STUDIO: We've opened the envelope and we're not sure if these

are the right or the names, but Iestyn Harris and John Kear

are this week's winners for best pundits.

Iestyn, you've won a World Club Challenge,

how big an achievement for Wigan was that?

Huge achievement, and I think it's something that certainly Shaun Wane,

the head coach there, has desperately wanted.

They went over to Sydney and probably underperformed

This was something he's been desperate for his team to go

on and win and it was a brilliant performance, wasn't it, from them?

To lift its Super League, as well, he'll be over the moon and the club

should be absolutely ecstatic with what they've achieved.

And when you add in what Warrington did to Brisbane,

what is the feel-good factor, do you feel, across the sport now?

I mean, it's been a real credit for the British game.

I think it gives you confidence, it makes you feel good about yourself,

it makes you feel good about your sport and it makes

you feel good about your country, so it really has, it's been just

The call from Tony Smith and Daryl Powell at the start

of the season was for more entertaining rugby league.

Their teams met on Friday night, so for Warrington

An early-season meeting for two sides who love to entertain.

Warrington on the back of their fabulous win against

Castleford have had a week off, but they too relatively fresh

Brown, such a wonderful debut last week against the Broncos.

Warrington just taking up a very decent position here.

Back to Kevin Brown, who will test them with the kick.

Well, he's over and he's claiming it.

He thinks it's a try on the field, but they're having

No doubt there that Rhys Evans knocked that ball backwards.

Might even have been a Castleford hand on that as well.

A clean pick up by him, and the touchdown is good

and this should be a try here for the Warrington Wolves,

Castleford again getting within viewing distance

Milner out of dummy half, going left.

Suddenly there's gaps appearing here.

It's a run for the line and Jesse Sene-Lefao

So the restart from Warrington, as they look to settle

that ship a little here, but Castleford looking

Junior Moors testing out the resolve of that Warrington defence again.

Millington's going to be swallowed up, can't get it away.

Four tackles gone, Milner again, little bobble.

Castleford with McMeeken, with a wonderful step for the big man.

Castleford have just scored back-to-back tries!

Wonderful play by McMeeken, and terrific support

Castleford knocking on this door again.

The pass from Rangi Chase has gone to ground.

McMeeken can do no more than pick it up and rescue possession.

Here's Greg Eden with a glimpse of the try line and it's all he needs.

It's a third Castleford try, and I'd don't think Warrington

have laid hands on ball since they conceded the first.

So, Warrington desperate here to stem the flow,

but Castleford have fire in their nostrils.

And going from deep here through Hardaker,

whose thrown away one defender and off he goes.

It's four tries in a breathtaking sequence from the Castelford Tigers.

They're absolutely ripping Warrington apart here.

Well, they attack from all points of the field, including

inside their own ten metres, and right from the kick of Hardaker,

pumping downfield, and Gale on the inside to take the pass

safely and never in doubt from that moment on.

Support here, but Atkins well known in defence by Webster.

Johnson to his feet, and from the blindside...

Well, the referee wants another look, not surprisingly.

Lineham pushing and barging, trying to catch that

He has got that down, I think, and just what Warrington needed,

Stuart Pearce, the fanatic these days of the Warrington Wolves,

friends with the Warrington coach, Tony Smith.

Here comes Evans now, with a chance to break.

But Warrington sizing up the opportunity on that

Holding the pass away for Lineham, to dive in and score!

Well, they'll have to look at this again because he was very

Video referee now looking on, and that looks perfectly fine

for Tom Lineham's second try, and he has put Warrington

right back in it now with his two scores,

Castleford quite keen to keep this ball alive.

Rangi Chase will have to take the tackle to Cooper

and here comes Milner, ranging out of dummy half.

Evans is across here to make the tackle.

McMeeken straight out the cover of defenders and takes

It started with a barnstorming run from Milner and is finished

Ashton Sims put down but still four tackles to go here for Warrington,

But they're dealt with by those Castleford defenders.

Nine minutes to play and Warrington are back

Milner's got time to decide where he's going with this,

and he's going left to Gale and Gale brings in Hardaker.

And here comes Eden to finish the job for Castleford.

What a start to the season they're having.

They're going to win this one now, surely, and it's going to be

a second successive win, and in some style.

Yes, how much did you enjoy watching that?

It was brilliant, absolutely brilliant.

It had absolutely everything, the game.

The tries from everywhere, but the defensive side

of the game as well, it was fierce, it was aggressive

and there was very little between the two teams, actually.

Just Castleford had a real sort of top spell in the first half

of around ten minutes where they scored three

or four tries, and that was the difference in the two teams.

Warrington, second half were very, very aggressive.

Let's have a look at that purple patch, because it was quite

something, and it's not off-the-cuff, is it?

You are looking at it going they've had two weeks to work all this out.

Yeah, they'll have looked at how Warrington played against Brisbane

in the previous game, and there will have identified

certain areas they want to attack and certain point they want

But what Castleford are really good at doing, their decision makers

They decide which pass to lay on and they do play a bit

of broken field staff, as well, when it the off-load, but

I think Zak Hardaker has been a revelation playing fullback,

There, the link to Greg Eden and big credit to Greg Eden,

They'll have noticed Warrington were tight from the kick-off.

They shifted it through skill through their back rower

there and he just burns Rhys Evans in the Warrington defence, and Gale

They were absolutely first-class tries, well coached,

and even better executed by the guys who take to the field of play.

When Zak Hardaker, he's playing with a smile on his face,

no doubt about it, but defensively you knew what he could do.

Are you excited by what they can add to his attacking play?

Well, he wasn't bad in attack two years ago, was he?

He won the Man of Steel, so there's an element of defence in fact,

I think with Zak, it's just about giving him confidence.

If he's got that confidence to play, he's got all

Yes, you can tweak things and adjust things in his game,

but give him confidence, he's got ability in abundance.

It seems odd to say this given the Brisbane game,

but that is two defeats on the bounce for Warrington.

Despite the excellent performance against Brisbane,

when obviously they won, then to back that up

against probably the form team from the early season

They backed it up pretty well against Castleford and it was fine

margins that just meant that Warrington were eight

points down this week, but next week they could play

Castleford and go eight points up, so I don't think they'll be any

element whatsoever of worry for Tony Smith.

Obviously Kevin Brown is one of their signings

who got all the headlines, but Andre Savelio,

I know Brisbane were very impressed with him.

I think you forget how young he is 20, 21.

He's probably found a club now that maybe suits him.

Here you see absolutely nothing on, just swerves

and the size of him, he's grown, hasn't he?

Different type of player, but Lee Briers, he left St Helens

and ended up going to Warrington and had a career we all know about.

This might be Savelio's club that he goes on from

Now, pay attention because this next one is complicated.

Wigan against Widnes was on, then it was off, and then

Storm Doris blew the fixture list 23 miles off course.

They were scheduled to play in Wigan but ended up in Widnes,

Leuluai goes carting his way through.

It was brawn rather than brains from Leuluai.

Looking to slip his way through, flicks the ball out the back.

Going to go it alone and Widnes are on the board.

Across the line, great little dart from Craven,

and Craven is through and Widnes it the front.

Looking to pierce the defence, is gone straight through the meadow,

and will touch down under the sticks.

What a superb try, what a week for Oliver Gildart.

Really smart play from the Widnes man.

A great ball, out to Marsh in the corner.

Heremaia, drops it off to Tom Olbison.

Heremaia's appealing for a penalty here and I think

Chris Bridge takes the ball to the line, Morgan Escare

That was smart defence from the Frenchman.

Messing about at the play-the-ball here and the referee has given

To further boost the lead, Rhys Hanbury.

Wigan doing their best to fight back here.

Powell, O'Loughlin, now back it goes to Williams.

Lovely ball out to that left-hand side.

Manages to free the ball, lovely off-load.

Lewis Tierney, the Scotland international touches down.

They've switched from right to left here.

Worked out that left-hand side once again.

Here goes Burgess down that left-hand side.

And Wigan will go ahead right towards the end of this game.

Unstoppable from the world champions.

First of all John, I think we should pay huge credit to Widnes forgetting

-- for getting that game on at such short notice, shouldn't we?

I suppose that's the advantage of the high pitch, and all credit

And credit to Widnes for their performance,

but you've got to say to Wigan, well done.

To back up winning the World Club Champions and I'm sure

they celebrated a tad, and then they came through that

and you're 14 points down, then to turn it round with four

I really like the look of that Oliver Gildart.

I think he really is a centre who's blossoming into a quality player.

Let's take a look at the try he scored, set up by Morgan Escare.

Talking about a knock-on, in some respects you don't

want to go there because it was such a lovely move.

It was, and so difficult to say whether it was a knock-on or not.

The referee's not in a great position, but Oliver Gildart

after this, he's no right to score that try.

Accelerate away and I agree with John, is an absolute brilliant

talent and one that's going to have a terrific future.

That left-hand side now with Farrell, Gildart

and Joe Burgess, that's going to be really threatening for teams

It is, very threatening indeed.

Burgess is a great finisher, as he's already demonstrated this season.

And Farrell's a real clever player, as well.

So yeah, the right side of any opposition are going

to have their work cut out when they play Wigan.

Denis Betts will be licking his wounds a little bit

because the team did play very, very well.

Was it just desire from Wigan, do you think, or...?

For Wigan to back up from what they did last

week and John is right, they are going to have some

celebrations, and rightly so, when you're the world champions,

To come back from the way they were behind, it shows

The reason they won the Grand Final last year, the reason they're

successful and consistent, it was everything in that

Widnes were in a position to win it there.

They will be bitterly disappointed they didn't,

because they are going to find points hard to come by this year.

Next up it's the newly promoted Leigh Centurions.

They were looking for their first win of the season.

They got off to a flier against St Helens, didn't they?

They've been renowned for this, haven't they, in the championship?

I think Leigh did exceptionally well for two or three years

in the championship, to get them to Super League,

and they were always renowned for getting to 18,

Everybody questioned would they be able to do that in Super League,

well they've shown certainly in this game that they're very much

Here we see Atelea Vea just brushing off Theo Fages

When they're in this mood, when they get into this

area of the field, there are extremely dangerous.

You see Gareth Hock just crashing over there.

And that's what does the damage, John?

I think you could say they're quite aggressive in that middle channel.

They really do carry the ball aggressively,

but they run good lines as well, and they timed the run

You can say they will cause teams problems.

A bit of a defensive mystery there from Alex Walmsley.

Jamie Acton went through for a very good try.

It was great to see, this killed they demonstrated, St Helens.

Their left-hand side, Percival put the wing man over,

Then James Roby, you expect this, you know full well near the try line

he's going to take you on, have a go at you.

I think from the week before, they raced into a lead at the start

of the game and that should've been on their minds.

For Mick Higham to accelerate, showing his experience and speed

there to get on the front foot again and Walmsley just brings them back.

They did exceptionally well to hang on, because St Helens

And they've built and built, haven't they?

How important for them to get that win?

It was very important for them, but the first four games

of their season were tough games and I'm certain there will be happy

to have posted that set appoint another lender the Wigan game,

the derby this coming week with renewed confidence and now

That will be a fascinating game to look at this weekend.

With all the talk about pitches this week we thought we'd take a dip

into the BBC archives and have a look at the floodlit

The scoreboard operators weren't too busy but the laundry

This is rugby league and this is Wigan on the left on the attack,

just going near to the interval with a score.

A minute and a half to go, 2-4 for, indicative

It's hard, it's tough, it's fast, it's got

What a sensational start to this BBC Two final,

with two players in for an early bath before we've

Wigan now, desperate for possession, and this could be, this could be.

One minute 15 seconds left. There goes the whistle. Wigan for the

first time take the BBC to floodlit Trophy.

So from me on top of the central park stand, good night.

Hope you have enjoyed the series and the final.

I have to say that leads us on beautifully to another extremely

muddy but incredibly compelling match between Siddal and Toronto.

Did it almost make you teary-eyed for the good old days

I had a look at this online with Dave who was commentating

and you could tell he fully enjoyed it and the crowd certainly enjoyed

It was played in very difficult conditions.

The cameraman and his chamois leather were certainly a part of it.

They are a full-time team and for the amateurs of Siddal

to come out of the shed and play as well as this, they represented

the amateur game really well and they represented

It was a great afternoon and anyone who watched that online will have

Over 40,000 plus who did, what do you think they will have

made of Rugby League in those conditions in Toronto?

It had everything, rough and tough, skill in there,

the conditions, I love the water on the camera, everything.

It was great and Dave had great commentary.

People would have enjoyed it and the fact that there were 40,000

people watching online, it shows a great

Rugby League on the BBC this week includes the fourth round draw

for the Ladbrokes Challenge Cup, that is online and on the red

There is commentary of Castleford and Leeds on Thursday from 7:30pm

and the Super League Show returns in the early hours next Tuesday.

There is a lunchtime repeat at one o'clock on BBC Two.

Schedule it for yourself on the BBC iPlayer.

Leeds took on Salford at Headingley on Friday.

The Rhinos had won 36 of their previous 38

meetings in Super League so was there a change in form?

Both Leeds and Salford have won one of their opening two games

and there was not much to split them, but it was Leeds who took

first blood with Ryan Hall leaping to get on the end of a beautifully

The Leeds captain showing why he is a vital player

There was never more than six points between the sides in the whole match

and after being denied an equaliser when Griffin had one cancelled

out for a forward pass, how crucial would that prove to be,

Michael Dobson providing the pass for Gareth O'Brien to go

Neither of the opening tries were converted,

but Rob Burrow was on the mark with a penalty, a few minutes later

But again Salford hit back after spells of pressure

on the Leeds line forcing the home team into some great defence play,

which eventually paid off for the Red Devils with Robert Lui

opening up space for Chris Welham to score.

Again, there was no conversion but Salford had

Leeds had had the best of the chances in the first half

and they were determined to make the best of what they got

They got off to the best possible start.

Matt Parcell made the break which Danny McGuire continued.

Jimmy Keinhorst was the man in support.

He shrugged off the attempt to tackle by Greg Johnson,

Rob Burrow was successful this time with his conversion and the gap

Burrow then added a penalty, to put more daylight between them.

What followed was a period of chances for both teams denied

With around 12 minutes to go it was the Leeds defence

Michael Dobson got the ball away to Mark Flanagan.

He squeezed out the pass for Logan Tomkins, who somehow

Gareth O'Brien added the goal and it was all square

What followed was a tense and controversial finish.

First Rob Burrow missed a penalty from 40 metres out.

It bounced off the padding on the post.

And then O'Brien missed one for Salford from a similar distance.

In the closing moments of what had been an incredibly tight game,

Leeds were pitching to snatch the win and what followed

was perhaps controversial and certainly the gamebreaker.

Stevie Ward off-loaded to Adam Cuthbertson with a ball many

thought was forward, or certainly flat at best.

Called by the officials and Rob Burrow linked up to let

substitute Liam Sutcliffe go racing in under the post for

what was the winning, although questionable try leaving

The fact that there were only three people in the ground who did not

We were adamant as a group today that we were coming here to get

something and that was a win that we wanted and I thought

The effort they put in and the way they stuck to the task when they had

to defend on the goal-line, they showed great character

and they deserved more than they got out of that.

I feel we have been let down by an outside factor today.

I'm going to be very diplomatic and say I did not see the pass.

You have to ask the question, was that why the try was scored?

I will see the guys on Monday, they will be rolling

The passage of play building up to it was were we really got Salford.

I never thought Brian McDermott would be doing

Ian Watson understandably sore, is it just one of those things

or is there something we need to look at that might make it

It is absolutely forward and you can understand the frustration.

The quality on the end of it, Cuthbertson's off-load to Burrow,

You can see where Ian Watson is coming from and you can

see the frustration from everyone at Salford.

They will go for you and against you and on that occasion it

If you were going to pick out a player for Salford at the moment

I think he developed last year from the potential

He seemed to mature into quite an accomplished player,

but I think now he is absolutely pivotal to how Salford play and to

Well you have to go back to the middle of July to find

the last time that Wakefield Trinity enjoyed a Super League victory.

You were at Huddersfield on Friday, John, talk us through this one.

Obviously the start for Huddersfield was sensational.

They really came out of the blocks and the young kid in the centre got

two tries with his first two touches of the ball.

Perhaps some question marks against the online

defence of our fellows, but they showed great character

and there are smart players at Wakefield and Liam Finn

is certainly one of them and when you notice a change

in the armour, everyone shaped up for a wide shot and Liam realised

This is a try that I really did enjoy and anyone who went to this

game will really recall this and say, look at this.

Jacob Miller does a great job at keeping the ball alive.

Just look at this from Ben Jones-Bishop.

There are some flyers in the Huddersfield team,

but because Tom Johnstone is pushing up there, working hard,

he is attracting people away from him and his footwork and pace

really does the business there and that is an absolute quality try.

It will be there for a try of the season.

Obviously the penalty came after that and another good finish there.

This is a centre's try really, where Reece Lyne went

in there and really popped out the off-load and Jones-Bishop

Half-time, 16-8, and you fancy your chances but Huddersfield really came

out with a desire in the second half, again it probably should have

been defended better, but the big men like Ukuma Ta ai,

This perhaps did affect our shape and our attack for the last few

minutes when there was that injury to Ben Jones-Bishop.

His nose is broken and he has lost some teeth, so perhaps his

looks are not as good as they were previously,

but he's OK and he will be back very very soon, we hope.

Obviously then, we came to the match clincher really

and it is Danny Brough and he can do this, he can do this to anybody.

Holding from the off-load, they didn't all push up as a team

there but this is a great piece of work and a great piece of skill

to pick up the space, McGillvary in the space

Credit to Danny Brough then for it and I have to congratulate Danny

as well on entering the top ten point scorers of all

He is a good player, and a mate of mine but I wish

He is an exceptional talent isn't he, it is his

Just wax lyrical a little bit about him.

I think everyone knows about Huddersfield.

If you want to stop Huddersfield, you have to stop Danny Brough,

We saw from the last try there, 99 players out of 100 do not

have the ability to see that and have the execution

He has been at the top of his game for a long time

He has been a great player for Super League and for Scotland.

So a try in every round so far for Jermaine McGillvary,

but what does the England man know about herbs, the solar

And the best of luck to Jermaine McGillvary,

he is out for 3-6 weeks with a quad injury.

He was injured in the match, I have to stress, not in Set of Six.

Finally, to the City of Culture and visitors do not come much more

Watching their game against Hull FC, was Dave Woods.

Up to dummy half again, opportunity here knocking

for the Black and whites because they are handily poised.

He was held up, but right in front of the sticks and a penalty.

Involving himself a little more than he should have done.

Should be an easy two points here for Marc Sneyd,

the first of the night and over it does go.

Jodie Broughton with the interception.

It is Gareth Ellis who has taken a heck of a bang here.

He got the ball away and Sam Moa came sweeping in.

Arms were involved, so I don't think it will be a penalty,

There is a bit of bite in this game now, isn't there?

Luke Walsh just measuring the job ahead and he struck it well

All square again at two points apiece.

Bird is in trouble, he has given away the penalty

I think there had been a team warning.

Bird is complaining that his arm was being held in by Griffin.

And he is ten minutes in the sin-bin.

Both sides need to clean things up here.

Luke Walsh with a chance to add another two.

It has been a stop start game, but that is for Catalan.

Looking what might be available to him on the right-hand side.

Plenty of Hull defenders back there, you can see it, but only ten metres

They are joining in on this right-hand side.

Krisnan Inu, and he is forcing his way in.

The referee was very close and decided he had

The video referee is not involved but it is worth

Shuffled back on the line by Minichiello.

A little gap in the Catalan defence but it remains very tight.

As they seek a way through on that right-hand side.

It is a terrific little flick from Sika Manu.

Bird has made a break, halfway through, lots of support.

And Richie Myler wins the try for Catalan!

And it all came from the efforts of Greg Bird.

Fonua adding his bulk to the Hull cause.

He has got up and he has not played it.

It is going to be another penalty here.

Stepped off the mark, the referee says.

And over goes the ball and it is another two points

to Catalan who are edging themselves closer to the big victory here.

Hull are desperate now to try and get something.

Krisnan Inu, it is a rattling big tackle, terrific effort from Taylor

and he has got the ball free and scores.

There has got to be a question of whether there were two

What about the determination of those two forwards,

There is the rattling effort from Taylor.

That is the decision that needs to be taken and that is the decision

Thornley trying to find a way back in the middle.

I think there was an advantage being played there and the referee

So Luke Walsh with the chance to add another two and a big two

In the wars, Jason Baitieri and that is not going to help.

It was taken in the air and that does not look pretty.

And it will be ten minutes in the sin-bin for Liam Watts.

It has not been a great night for those in black and white.

So will Walsh chip another two and chip his side ever closer

We will see more aesthetically pleasing games this season,

but if it stays like this, Catalan will not complain.

Well, we have had some extremely entertaining games this weekend,

The first half, I think there were 13 penalties in 25 minutes.

The game never got going and both coaches and both sets

I think we do not want to see that in our game, we want

Do you blame the referee for that or do you blame

I think the referee could have been sterner.

I think he perhaps could have sin-binned a couple of players

from either side or a player from either side just put his foot

down on the game and then let the game go through.

It was 25 or 30 minutes before anything got going.

It was slow-paced and we only really saw any quality in the second half.

Once the second half came, we saw a bit more adventure

from both sides, some great defence and you started to see an improved

How important is Greg Bird going to be for Catalan?

When he was over here before, he almost took them to a Grand Final

within 80 minutes of the Grand Final.

He has changed his game, he is now very much,

he is running the ball as much as passing the ball now

and he really does cause problems to the opposition and he is very

He kept interest in Danny Houghton, time after time after time

and Danny Houghton is a great defensive player.

I think he made 50 plus tackles in this game.

He spotted him, taking it off his attacking play

but there was the one time he had to use the footwork,

got his nose through, off-load there and then as you see,

up comes the support player and then Richie Myler,

this is great skill, catching the ball behind him there,

to finish the try, but Greg Bird could well be the catalyst

It will need to be a better game than that.

That is round two done and dusted and here is how things are looking

Early days but it is Castleford Tigers who lead the way.

They are one of three teams with a 100% record

Warrington, Widnes and Wakefield are still waiting to get off the mark.

So, we have reached the end of February and here is one or two

things you might have missed in Super League so far.

Something tells us this Leeds fan was quite keen for his side to go

Who needs enemies when you have team-mates like Jon Wilkin?

He gets a forearm smash from the captain.

When you travel around the world watching your team,

It wasn't fancy dress in the Wigan end, just a shame no-one

My thanks to my guests for joining us.

We will see you next week for Round 3.

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